Ephemeral Spaces
by MiyuWrites
Summary: A familiar sighting takes Gray in the ride of his life. Natsu/Gray. AU


A/N: Unbetaed.

* * *

**Ephemeral Spaces**

It was a spring day like any other. The sun shone up on the clear sky, the green fields were being painted colourfully by the flowers.

In Magnolia everything was going as usual. A busy and noisy town, where much of the noise and bustle originated from one sole point. The Fairy Tail guild.

Gray was walking to the guild, the sunshine was a bit too bright for the ice mage's eyes but as he had to walk through the middle of the market, the awnings overhead were bound to protect him somewhat.

And that was how Gray found himself in the middle of the crowd, trying to avoid the odd distracted person, the vendors, the bustle overall. Music, laughter and loud voices knocked together, delicious scents wafted in the hair and, for a moment, Gray felt tempted to try some of the food. His stomach was starting to rumble and that was something Gray disliked. Of course that he wasn't as over the top as a certain fire mage he knew… Natsu's stomach rumbled way too much – but the way he took food was also absurd. Gray mumbled to himself, how dragonslayers sometimes could be too much…

And, speaking of dragonslayers, Gray noticed a pink head. Too familiar.

_What's he doing here?_ Gray wondered. According to how things were, Natsu was supposed to be at the guild – for a while even – gobbling all the food in sight, as usual.

_This is odd_… Gray looked around, trying to see Happy. But the blue cat wasn't with Natsu. And the fire mage was heading towards one of the side streets concurrent with the market. Gray had to hurry if he wanted to keep following him.

Gray was curious.

The crowd seemed to have grown, the people walking about had their steps echoing and becoming louder.

That was odd, the ice mage didn't have a recollection of such a thing happening. But yes, the steps started to follow a rhythm, a certain cadence that made a shiver run down Gray's spine. A sudden and weird darkness covered the sky, the dry noise of wings flapping bounced on the buildings, going from stone front to stone front. A clatter sounded above the sound of the steps, making Gray's ears hurt. The ice mage threw an annoyed look towards where Natsu was but, not seeing the other, he ran and got into the alley where it seemed that Natsu had gone through.

Silence enveloped Gray, followed by shadows. There was a big and noticeable difference between both places. A dichotomy, almost, like night and day.

Gray noticed Natsu, in the distance.

He got ready to run but, upon taking the first steps, something else weird happened.

What seemed like a gap, a rift, opened in front of Gray. The ice mage fell into an immense darkness.

* * *

As soon as Gray opened his eyes, he realized that he could see.

The light was weak, sparse and ethereal, softening the sharp angles of the surface on which Gray found himself. The game of light and shadow became diffuse, stuck in a grey area, contrasting colours in an eternal struggle.

Slowly, Gray rose, sitting and looking around. Despite the game of shadows, Gray could discern that he seemed to be on a piece of earth. With his right hand, Gray got a handful, letting the soil slip through his fingers into becoming a small mound beside of him.

_Dust._

In that precise moment a voice cut through the silence.

_Natsu._

Gray got up and headed towards the place from which the voice seemed to provide from. Natsu was speaking, even though Gray couldn't discern the actual words. Walking through a pile of rocks, Gray could finally see Natsu.

The fire mage seemed to be bathed by a beam of light, he had his back towards Gray and was talking to someone shrouded in darkness – the beam of light made it hard for Gray to see.

"Natsu?" Gray said at last. The name echoed in the silence that filled the space, a rumble that wasn't appreciated.

"Hey!" Natsu exclaimed, suddenly turning. "What are you doing here?" he asked, pointing an accusing finger at Gray.

"Heck if I know!" was the immediate answer. "I followed you and… here I am?"

"You shouldn't be able to be here…" Natsu muttered, confused. "How has that…?"

A thundering noise answered Natsu, apparently, because the fire mage turned towards the dark figure that Gray could barely make out beyond the light.

"Ah, okay. But… him?"

The side of the conversation that Gray could follow wasn't sounding too good, as it seemed like Natsu was mocking him.

"Oi. What's going on. How did we end up here and, by the way, where the fuck is here?" Gray threw a glare at Natsu and waited for an answer.

"I don't know for certain what this is. They call it ephemeral spaces, or, it's the name that I know they give it."

"Who?"

"The dragons." Natsu shrugged as if that were answer enough.

Which, given the weird situation, might be.

"Hm, okay. And what are, exactly, those spaces?" Gray tried again.

"Places of balance. Of movement. Of word." Natsu answered, but, as he had his back turned to Gray once more, his voice sounded weird.

"And what the heck are you doing here? And me?" Gray took two steps towards him but stopped when a streak of fire lashed at the ground in front of him. A warning. "Oi! What the hell is this?"

"You can't come any closer. I don't know how you got permission to be here but you better stop."

Natsu turned, then. His right hand was open and, in it, there was a seed. Natsu let the seed fall.

When it got to the ground it became dust. A small swirl of dust that raised, twisting this and the other side, it grew and clouded Natsu.

But Natsu started to speak then. However the sounds that the familiar voice was emitting were weird, spoken in a cadence that made Gray's ears hurt once again, sounding faster than it should be possible for words to be articulated.

Suddenly the words started to become matter. The fluidity with which they had been said until then, stagnated. Shadows burst from all directions, moving lazily and enfolding more and more the space.

"Who dares to know." Natsu's voice asked, dryly. The echo resounded and pushed the shadows away for one moment.

"I do!" Gray shouted, his patience gone, despite the strange place and events that were happening in front of him.

"You can't ask Time for time." Natsu answered, now walking towards Gray. His face had an unfamiliar neutral expression but his eyes were shining and seemed to be wise beyond years. It wasn't something that was usual in that face.

"Time? Stop fucking with me." Gray said with a scoff, before realizing what he was doing.

Natsu – or whoever that was – smiled.

A flash of light was followed by a gentle breeze which made Gray open his eyes.

They no longer found themselves in that dark space from before but were in a meadow. The warm sunlight bathed them and the breeze brought to them the scent of flowers and sea.

"Do you think you can come?" Natsu asked, his smile was way too familiar to Gray now. The fire mage extended his hand, expectantly.

Gray looked down at the hand and then at Natsu. Now _this was_ his friend and rival.

"You think I can't, flame breath?" Gray rose to the challenge.

"I don't know… sometimes you can be a bit weird." Natsu said in mock nonchalance.

"I'll show you!" Gray grasped Natsu's hand. And was pulled.

The dragonslayer started running down the hill. His arms were stretched out and Gray had to follow his lead and do the same. They were running towards the cliff, going faster and faster.

When they reached the edge, they jumped.

They jumped over the sea, over a blinding white, over weird spaces in a myriad of different colours. On their arms and backs flames erupted. But these flames didn't burn. They lit the dark space that enveloped them.

But Natsu kept running, through the void and the darkness. Through regions that appeared and faded away. Born and destroyed in the space of a thought.

"I'm going to tell you a story…" Natsu said.

Gray kept running, his hand in Natsu's, and got ready to listen.

* * *

A/N: So... I was translating this from my story and came to a massive realization.

Guys, it's kind of huge. And is making me so hype. But it's also a bit overwhelming so, we'll see how it goes. Step by step - but I think that it's going to be AWESOME!


End file.
